Review: SQUEEZE MY CANS – ADELAIDE FRINGE 2019 at Tandanya Arts Cafe

Reviewed by Fiona Talbot-Leigh, Saturday 2nd March 2019.

Cathy Schenkelberg brings to Adelaide the Australian premiere of her award-winning one-woman show, Squeeze My Cans, performed at Tandanya Arts Cafe. It is an expose of the weird but not wonderful world of Scientology. For nearly two decades, Schenkelberg gave of her time and money to this group and, if not for her daughter, she might still be embroiled, trying to climb the ladder of success and to gain the seemingly unattainable place of becoming a 'clear' person (a state a person reaches when they are free of any unwanted emotions or painful traumas not readily available to the conscious mind).

Schenkelberg has a painful story to tell and she tells it well. As a seasoned actor and voice-over artist, she draws her audience to her easily as she shared with us her version of events of what happened when she was innocently led into the world of Scientology.

For an actor, the script her life story seamlessly wrote is absolute gold. Schenkelberg is the ultimate storyteller and, under the tight direction of Shirley Anderson, she tells it well. Schenkelberg's voice has a gorgeous velvet tone, and her most intimate feelings are laid bare. You cannot help but get caught up in it all, as the emotion she emits is palpable. It is as though she is telling her story for the first time.

The Scientologists she entrusted her life to set out to expose her at her most vulnerable. They were relentless in their questioning and never satisfied with her answers, as she was pushed to relive some of her worst life experiences, especially that of the loss of her older brother when she was just 13.

Schenkelberg plays many characters throughout her story, a Scientology interrogator, her younger self, and those of other people in her life, such as her father and daughter. With the aid of simple, yet clever lighting techniques, Schenkelberg took the audience with her as she brought forth her true self in each and every moment. Projected onto a screen behind her is the dollar amount that she spent whilst she was a member and, over the course of the show, the number escalates alarmingly. It started out at around $1,600, which she was encouraged to borrow from someone and then cut ties with them, to nearly $1,000,000.

This is a no holds barred show, where every tidbit of information is up for grabs. You get a rare insight into the phenomenon that is Scientology, along with a bit of celebrity gossip.

Scientology can break up families, ruin relationships, bank balances, and lives, but it can also make for one hell of a show. Actually, make that two shows.

Squeeze My Cans has just finished its Adelaide Fringe season but its spin-off, Squeeze My Cabaret has just begun. Schenkelberg also has a fabulous singing voice, and rumour has it that she even auditioned once to be Tom Cruise's new girlfriend, so, if you would like to find out any more celebrity gossip, then try to catch that show if you can. You might learn a thing or two. Schenkelberg deserves a large audience, and so does her story as what she has to share is so important.

Squeeze My Cabaret is playing at Tandanya Arts Cafe from the 13th to the 17th of March at 9:15pm, with a 4:15pm matinee on Saturday and Sunday as well.